Video games and especially the violence in video games has been blamed for nearly every possible thing in the world: from attacks in schools and robberies to the failure of soccer teams or the poor state of the music industry. In other words, video games are today’s most common scapegoat. Latest thing that should be blamed on them? Killing animals!

Yes, that’s correct – not only PETA thinks that games turn people into heartless animal killers, but author Bill Croke too. Writing for “The nation’s pulse” column in conservative publication The American Spectator, Croke says that “Video games are mindless, as are the parents who let their kids play them.”

He then goes on to blame video games for the so-called wildlife “thrill killing” – shooting wild animals just for fun. He says:

“According to studies extant, these wildlife atrocities are committed mostly by young men aged 15 to 22, the video game generation. Much has been written about the nihilistic violence that kids are exposed to when they play some of these games…

I think it might be an easy jump to get up from a computer game, go out and pull the trigger on an elk or a deer, and then walk away with a laugh. After all, it’s only a game… Yet, I think our four-legged friends will get a break soon, as the video game-thrill killing trend graduates to a higher plane: human beings.”

So not only that we have absolutely no feelings when it comes to poor helpless animals, but we will soon start to destroy other human beings “just for fun” according to the author. An author who mentions seeing teens playing shooter games in an Salmon, Idaho Public Library – which appears to be fake, as website What They Play can confirm after calling the library: “We do not carry games, just books, DVDs, CDs, and books on tape,” said the PR lady there. But, of course, it’s easier to blame video games for everything!